Cap for protruding ears



Amai 1', 1924K,

J. V. O'KEEFE CAP FOR PROTRUDING EARS Filed Deo. '7, 1921 WHA/8858 y A TTURNEVS Patented Api. 1, 1924.

UNITED STATES J'OANNA. V. OKEEFE, 0F' NEW YORK, N. Y.

GAP FOR PROTR'U'DING- EARS.

Application led December 7, 1921.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOANNA V. OKEEFE,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of the Bronx, in the county of Bronx and State of New York, have invented a new and I mproved Cap for Protruding Ears, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to devices used by the medical profession in training certain parts of the body and particularly to an improved cap for training or controlling the growth of the ears of a child and has for an object to 16 provide an improved structure which may be readily applied and removed at any time.

Another object is to provide a cap with a pressing section adapted to t against the ear and retaining means extending therefrom so as to hold the pressing section at the right place notwithstanding the movement of the head.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a side view of part of a figure of a baby showing a cap embodying the invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the cap shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a sectional View through Fig- Re ure 2 approximately on line 3 3.

Figure 4 is a side view of the lower part of a slightly modified form of the invention to that illustrated in Figure 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawing by numerals, 1 indicates the head of a ligure 2 which is the figure of a very small child. Arranged to cover each of the ears of the child are pressing sections 3, which sections are supported by three straps 4, 5 and 6. A back retaining strap 7 preferably of elastic is provided while a front adjustable strap' 8 is arranged to extend beneath the chin so that neither a forward or a backward movement of the pressing sections may occur. It will be evident that a greater or even less number of straps may be used for supporting the sections 3 than the three straps 4,' 5 and 6 without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The pressing sections 3 may be made of any desired material but are preferably formed of two short sections 9 and l0 to which the ends of the three supporting straps 4, 5 and 6 are secured by suitable lines of stitching. The back strap 7 is pref- Serial No. 520,568.

erably of elastic and is stitched in place at or adjacent the rear lower corners of the section 3 while the' front strap 8 is stitched or otherwise rigidly secured to the front lower corners. Preferably, a'buclrle 11 is .60 provided for strap 8 to take care of adjustments. if desired, a snap fastener 12 could be provided instead of the buckle 11 as shown in Figure 4. Itis also evident that other forms of adjusting means may be used without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In use, the device is applied to ears which protrude objectionably and the pressing sections 3 are pressed against the ears until the ears are caused to assume a proper position against or near the head. The supporting straps 4, 5 and 6 are then properly adjusted as well as the rear strap 7. The front strap 8 is then tightened as a last adjustment and the device is then in use. The device is intended to be worn more or less continuously for a number of months or until the ears have set in the proper position in respect to the head. There the device is used on very young children, this training of the ears takes a comparatively shorttime though when a child is older it takes much longer.

1. A cap for correcting protruding ears, comprising a pair of clamping sections adapted to loe placed on the ears and substantially cover the ears, a plurality of spaced supporting straps connected with said clamping sections and radiating therefrom, an elastic rear strap connected to the lower rear corners of said sections, and a front adjustable strap connected to the lower front corners of said sections.

2. A cap for training protruding ears, comprising a vsection of cloth acting as a clamping member and adapted to be positioned on the ear, a plurality of supporting straps of cloth each having one end overlapping said sect-ion of cloth, said overlapping `10e ends being of sufficient width to produce a second layer of cloth in connection with said section of cloth, a back retaining strap secured to the lower and rear corner of said section of cloth, and an adjustable front retaining strap secured to the lower and forward corner of said section of cloth.

JOANNA V. OKEEFE.

Witness HUGH A. CooNmY. 

